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Quotes from A Woman of No Importance — Oscar Wilde

1854–1900

← All quotes by Oscar Wilde

20 quotes

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious. Both are disappointed.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

The growing influence of women is the one reassuring thing in our political life.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on now for three hundred years.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

I am always astonishing myself. It is the only thing that makes life worth living.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that would tell one anything.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Moderation is a fatal thing, Lady Hunstanton. Nothing succeeds like excess.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

One knows so well the popular idea of health. The English country gentleman galloping after a fox—the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
It ends with Revelations.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Don't be deceived, George. Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely if ever do they forgive them.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

I suppose Society is wonderfully delightful.
To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Lord Illingworth: Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Oh! no one. No one in particular. A woman of no importance.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Gerald: I suppose society is wonderfully delightful?
Lord Illingworth: To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it simply a tragedy.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Lady Hunstanton: But do you believe all that is written in the newspapers?
Lord Illingworth: I do. Nowadays it is only the unreadable that occurs.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Lord Illingworth: Women have become too brilliant. Nothing spoils a romance so much as a sense of humour in the woman.
Mrs. Allonby: Or the want of it in the man.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Lord Illingworth: The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
Mrs. Allonby: It ends with Revelations.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Oscar Wilde (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.